CNU New York Executive Officers
Chair- Marc Wouters, LEED AP: MW Arch. & Urbanist
Executive Officer- Larry Gould: Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Assoc.
Operations Officer- Paddy Steinschneider: Founder, Gotham Design
Financial Officer- Eric Alexander: Vision Long Island, Director; LI Main Street Alliance, Founder
Communications Officer- Zeke Mermell, AICP, LEED AP: Senior Urban Planner/Designer, Sam Schwartz
CNU New York Board Members
Edward Andrews Andrews Real Estate Advisers
Camille Cortes Hart Howerton
Kevin Dwarka Kevin Dwarka, PhD, Land Use & Economic Consultant
George Grasser Developer, Buffalo NY
Derik Kane LaBella Associates
David Kim Tolar|Anderson|Kim Architecture+Urban Design
Heather LaVarnway Dutchess County Dept. of Planning and Development
Gianni Longo Gianni Longo Visioning and Facilitation Services
Michael Lydon The Street Plans Collaborative
Andrew Malone Leeding Builders Group, an AECOM company
Louis Marquet Leyland Alliance
Delma Palma Urban Design Fellow at New York City Housing
Authority (NYCHA)
Dominick Ranieri Dominick Ranieri Architect
Laura Sachs New York City School Construction Authority
Robert Steuteville Editor, CNU Public Square
Bill Tuyn David Homes
More about the Executives and Board Members
Marc Wouters, Chairman
Mr. Wouters is a leader in the design process for new communities, downtown master plans, resiliency planning, affordable housing, sustainable city planning, various architectural projects, and is director of Marc Wouters | Studios. Projects led by Mr. Wouters have received AIA, CNU, and ULI Awards. Mr. Wouters also has been featured in the New York Times, City Limits, and NBC News. Among the Studio’s projects are The South Jamaica Cloudburst Master Plan, I-278 BQE master plan, Hopewell Town Center Master Plan, NJ, the ULI Award-winning Columbia Heights TOD Masters Plan, San Ramon City Center Master Plan, multiple Puerto Rico Resilience Studies. His is director of the documentary “Reinventing Bilbao,” will be published in ASTI Springer’s upcoming book on Urban Revitalization, and served as a member of the Rockefeller Foundation’s National Disaster Resiliency Academy. The studio’s prior clients include City Agencies, Private Developers, Housing Authorities, and Community-Based Organizations. www.mwouters.com; marc@mwouters.com
Larry Gould, Executive Officer
Larry is a Principal at Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates with more than 30 years of experience in public transit planning and operations. He has created systems for implementing tens of billions in capital investment while maintaining nearly full service for customers as well as service plans for every major event and venue, and every potential and actual disaster, affecting New York City, including delay management for everyday problems. A founding member of the Congress for the New Urbanism, New York chapter, Larry advocates for reinforcing good development decisions with good transit decisions.
Previously, Larry served in various capacities in the Operations Planning division of Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York City Transit where he was responsible for short-term service planning for bus and rail, including planning for capital projects, construction, contingencies, and special events. A member of the MTA’s Blue Ribbon Sustainability Commission, he helped developed MTA’s Smart Growth and transit-oriented development program. yt50@verizon.net
Paddy Steinschneider, Operations Officer
Paddy Steinschneider is President of Gotham Design Planning & Development Ltd., a placemaking firm that he founded in 1977 located in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Gotham is a real estate development firm that looks for projects in village settings that can focus on “healing the whole.” An Environmental Science major at Columbia College, Paddy received his Masters in Architecture from Columbia University in 1976. With a personal philosophy of being locally involved, Paddy’s previously peripheral support for CNU was invigorated by the advent of local CNU chapters. He would like to see CNU NY develop strategies to promote smart growth by reinforcing the character of villages with existing infrastructure served by multi-modality transit systems as part of the solution to the inconvenient truth. He is committed to creating compact, complete, and complex places with a high level of connectivity that will promote convivial communities. arch329@gmail.com
Eric Alexander, Financial Officer
Eric Alexander is the Director of Vision Long Island, the area's downtown planning organization. Eric has over twenty five years of experience in housing, transportation, community development and coordinating community projects. Specifically, Eric has advanced downtown planning, infrastructure investment and mixed use development through lobbying the Federal, State, County levels while working with municipalities to develop and implement smart growth policies, regulations, and projects. His work at Vision Long Island has resulted in over 150 downtown and infrastructure projects supporting over 15,000 units of Transit Oriented Development across LI. ea@visionlongisland.org
Zeke Mermell, Communications Officer
Zeke Mermell, AICP, LEED AP, is a Senior Urban Designer and Transportation Planner at Sam Schwartz Engineering. Zeke has over 12 years of experience in bicycle/pedestrian planning, public engagement and New Urbanism. Zeke's work also includes climate resilience plans and sustainable/adaptable infrastructure. He is currently studying the impacts of urban highways, to mitigate a more equitable and connective built environment. Previously, he worked at Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ), and Cooper Robertson (CRP). Zeke has been involved in design charrettes (such as the UNOP post-Katrina recovery planning in New Orleans) and an 80,000 acre sustainable development outside Charleston, SC. Zeke has guest lectured at NYU Tandon School of Engineering and completed Jeff Speck's “Walkable City” course at Harvard University. Projects he manages have been recognized with awards such as from ACEC (American Council of Engineering Companies). 929-438-0433; zmermell@samschwartz.com; www.zmermell.com
Board Members
Edward (Ted) Andrews MS, LEED AP is a commercial realtor and broker specializing in office space leasing, real estate consulting, and property sales/analysis in the metropolitan NYC area. He is the principal of Andrews Real Estate Advisers founded in 1992.
Mr. Andrews begin his real estate career in 1985 at Cross & Brown Co. in N.Y.C., a subsidiary of Metropolitan Life Insurance. He has acted as tenant representative and exclusive broker for hundreds of companies. In addition to tenant representation, he has performed the roles of property manager and leasing agent for Zurich American at its 59 John Street office tower (a 100,000 s.f. building located in the downtown insurance district). These companies included Brown Brothers Harriman and the U.S. Trust Company. One of his more notable property transactions was the sale of the National Register building 65 Liberty St. to the International Bank of China.
Edward Andrews is a founding member of the CNU NY chapter having served as the President of the Chapter-in-Formation organization. He also has served on the membership committees of the N.Y. Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club of NY. Mr. Andrews holds a Master of Real Estate Science from New York University, is LEED certified, and is a certified charrette leader. eandrews@andrewsrealestateadvisers.com; 646-764-8702
Camille Cortes
Camille Cortes is a designer at Hart Howerton. She studied Architecture and Ecosystem Science Policy at the University of Miami. As a Miami native, Camille is conscious of the looming impact sea level has on her hometown and similar communities worldwide, leading her focus on both mitigation and adaptation strategies. Camille founded PLACE Initiative, an organization focused on policy, education, and advocacy around urban design as an integral driver of climate change and equity solutions.
Kevin Dwarka
Kevin Dwarka is a land use and economic consultant specializing in the revitalization of New York State’s downtowns, neighborhoods, waterfronts, main streets, and train stations. Headquartered in New York City, Kevin offers a unique combination of planning services including economic analysis, land use guidance and litigation support. Kevin has performed land use and economic analyses for a broad range of communities throughout the New York Metro Region. Prior to establishing his own practice, Kevin Dwarka held senior positions at the MTA, Nelson Nygaard Consulting Associates, and the Israel Union for Environmental Defense. He is admitted to practice before the New York State Bar and serves on the New York City Bar Association’s Housing and Urban Development Committee. He received his BA from Columbia University, JD from Pace Law School, MCP from UC Berkeley, and PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s School of Public Policy.
George Grasser is a retired real estate development and transactional attorney. His practice included the creation of almost 200 condominiums and homeowner associations. He presently works as a consultant to developers and their attorneys. He was the leading founder of Partners for a Livable Western New York (now part of CNU New York) and served as its executive director for 19 years. He headed the development team for The Gardens at Oxbow New Urbanist development in the Village of Lewiston, NY, that was named 2013 Project of the Year by the New York State Builders Association. He co-chaired the national CNU Congress in Buffalo in 2014. He served two terms as the co-chair of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Condominiums and Cooperatives and is the author of “Property Taxes and Homeowners Associations” published by the Community Associations Institute. He has received many awards for his efforts to improve government, land use and the built environment in Western New York including from the New York State League of Women Voters, the Buffalo-Niagara Partnership, Visit Buffalo Niagara and the Upstate New York Chapters of the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Architects. ressarg@earthlink.net; 716-480-4970
Derik Kane, AICP, CNUa, is a Senior Planner and Project Manager at LaBella Associates, where he focuses on downtown revitalization and economic development, housing, smart growth, pedestrian accessibility & transportation alternatives, as well as local comprehensive planning & zoning. Mr. Kane is a certified planner with over a decade of experience in both the public and private sectors, and currently serves as President for the WNY Chapter of the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU WNY). Prior to joining LaBella’s Buffalo Office, he served as Senior Planner for Genesee County, NY.
Derik holds a Masters in Urban Planning from the University at Buffalo where he specialized in in Economic and International Development. In 2020 he was recognized by Buffalo Business Firsts as a 40 under 40 recipient, and is a recent graduate of Leadership Buffalo and alumni of the inaugural class of Young Professionals for Olmsted Parks. dkane@labellapc.com
David Kim is an architect, urban designer and developer focused on long term, regenerative development of existing neighborhoods and districts. He is a partner in an urban design and planning collaborative (Tolar Anderson Kim LLC) and a development company (Artifex DBD) focused on neighborhood scale, attainable infill (commercial and housing) developments that lead to revitalization of economically challenged districts. He is a co-founder of the non-profit Incremental Development Alliance (www.incrementaldevelopment.org) that trains local people to become developers of their own neighborhoods. He currently serves on the (national) board of the Congress for the New Urbanism and is also an elected trustee in the Village of Tarrytown, NY. He is a graduate of Cornell University. dkim@davidtkimarchitect.com
Heather LaVarnway
Michael Lydon
Andy Malone has been participating in the Congress for the New Urbanism since 2004 and is a charter member of the CNU New York chapter. He works in Manhattan as a Senior Construction Manager building high-rise residential projects and has prior experience as a co-working office space development manager (WeWork) and collaborates with real estate entrepreneurs via his own company Asgard Associates, Inc. amalone@gmail.com
Louis G. Marquet is Executive Vice President of Leyland Alliance LLC, a Tuxedo, New York-based company and builder focused exclusively on the creation of mixed-use, highly sustainable neighborhoods while setting new standards for construction innovations and environmental responsibility. Leyland Alliance currently has six communities in various stages of development across the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Mr. Marquet’s 40 years of experience includes a vast array of development from New York City to smaller villages. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, Mr. Marquet is a member of NAHB, the National Town Builders Association and many non-profit boards. He has been a member of CNU for almost 10 years and agreed to join the CNY New York Board to support the New Urbanism planning mission in the region. lmarquet@leylandalliance.com
Delma Palma
Dominick Ranieri is the principal of Dominick Ranieri Architect, PC (DRA) located in Guilderland, NY. He was a student of Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk during the formative years of the new urban movement at the University of Miami, where he received a Bachelors of Architecture Degree in 1985. Today he works on Traditional neighborhood Development (TND) projects such as Glassworks Village in Guilderland, NY, Park Place at Malta, NY and Beacon Harbor, Bethlehem, NY. Dominick is a member of NCARB, American Institute of Architects, and Congress of Residential Architects, where he is the founding member of the Place Making Chapter of CORA. Mr. Ranieri has been a member of CNU for over six years, as well as a founding member of the New York State Chapter of the CNU. He is committed to creating memorable and identifiable mixed use, pedestrian-friendly communities where residents can gather to socialize and or work in an environment designed with the human experience in mind. dranieri@drany.com
Laura B. Sachs, RA, LEED AP BD+C, is an architect, currently working for the New York City School Construction Authority as a Senior Construction Assessment Specialist after spending 30+ years in the private sector working on a variety of project types in NYC and on Long Island. Laura attended her first Congress for New Urbanism in 2006, and has participated in several community charettes with ADL III Architecture and Vision Long Island.
An avid cyclist (who often commutes to work with Citibike), Laura is active with several advocacy groups supporting “Vision Zero” safe streets addressing pedestrian and biking safety issues, as well as supporting bus lanes and mass transit improvements in NYC. Laura was an elected trustee serving on the Cold Spring Harbor Library Board, overseeing construction of the new community library. Laura has a degree from Syracuse University School of Architecture and a Master’s degree in Urban Design from Columbia University. LSachs@NYCSCA.org
Robert Steuteville is Senior Communications Adviser for the national Congress for the New Urbanism as well as founder and executive director of Better Cities & Towns, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that seeks to educate and raise awareness for more sustainable and livable communities. Steuteville has been writing, editing, and publishing in the field of New Urbanism since 1996, when he founded New Urban News, a trade publication that covered the trend until 2012, when the name was changed to Better Cities & Towns. He authored or co-authored four editions of New Urbanism: Best Practices Guide, which is used for CNU accreditation. He published the Smart Code Version 9 and Manual. He is leading a team that is writing a form-based code, using the Smart Code as a basis, for the city and town of Ithaca, New York. Steuteville is a signer of the Charter of the New Urbanism, which was unveiled in Charleston, South Carolina, when New Urban News was launched. He participated in the Mississippi Renewal Forum, when new urbanists made plans for 11 communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina. He lives in Ithaca, New York, with his family. rsteuteville@cnu.org
Mr. Tuyn has over 39 years of experience as a land development consultant who has designed and managed projects across a diverse range of places and forms. The 2015‐16 President of the New York State Builders Association, Mr. Tuyn was nominated by the Governor of New York and confirmed by the NYS Senate, as the Building Industry representative on the NY State Fire Prevention and Building Codes Council. The 2009 President of the Buffalo Niagara Builders Association, Mr. Tuyn has twice served as both the NY State representative to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and as NAHB’s National Vice President/National Area 2 Chairman. An avid advocate Smart Growth and sustainable design, he was named as the 2015 Buffalo Ambassador of the Year for his successful effort to bring 2014’s twenty‐second annual Congress for the New Urbanism to Buffalo. In addition to serving as Co‐chair of CNU22 and on the Board of CNU New York, he has served on the Board of Vision Long Island and is the Vice Chairman of the Board of CNU/WNY, CNU’s Western NY regional chapter. bill@davidhomes.com